That observation which is called knowledge of the world will be found much more frequently to make men cunning than good.

They whose activity of imagination is often shifting the scenes of expectation, are frequently subject to such sallies of caprice as make all their actions fortuitous, destroy the value of their friendship, obstruct the efficacy of their virtues, and set them below the meanest of those who persist in their resolutions, execute what they design, and perform what they have promised.

There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern.

The present is never a happy state to any human being.

Advice is offensive, it shows us that we are known to others as well as to ourselves.

Men hate more steadily than they love.

Wickedness is always easier than virtue; for it takes the short cut to everything.